Since the late days of the Playstation 2 Santa Monica Studio's have been finely crafting entries of their now instantly recognisable bloody Greek epic, the Playstation exclusive franchise, God of War. It's a series that prides itself on battles of a massive scale and the traversal of awe inspiring mythical locations. The latest and sixth major entry God of War: Ascension is no exception to all the hallmarks that made it's predecessors so memorable. Those who loved the previous five will find much to enjoy here, even if it is disappointingly the weakest of the console releases.

Like the prior games Ascension follows the journey of legendary ash white skinned warrior Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, as he viscously cuts, tears and stamps his way through hordes of enemies foolish enough to cross his path. Chronologically the earliest chapter in the saga Ascension follows Kratos (whose not quite so angry this time) in his quest to slay the three sisters of Fury, a powerful supernatural sect who're responsible for the enforcement of mortals blood oaths to the gods of Olympus. Due to Kratos breaking his blood oath to Ares, the god of war, the furies restlessly pursue him; they play their role well coming off as an adequate threat - even if they're not up to the same calibre as previous antagonists.

There in lies Ascensions ultimate failing, the story happily chugs along and set pieces play out as epically intended however, the feeling persists throughout the experience that lots of this has been done before in previous instalments; in many cases better. Villains the Furies perfectly personify this, despite being powerful beings wielding awesome power they don't feel half as epic to encounter compared to God of War 3's antagonists - the pantheon of the gods themselves who're torn to pieces by Kratos one by one. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, in fact everything is very good, it's just disappointing in comparison - but after gods, where is there to go?

Ascension surpasses it's elder siblings however when it comes to graphical fidelity, it's easily one of the best looking games on Playstation 3 and the current generation of home consoles overall. The animation is as smooth as ever; both the player and enemy character models are beautifully designed - the very large ones in particular are gorgeous Stunning visuals have little affect on performance too, the game runs consistently smoothly for the most part although they're occasional hiccups that strangely occur outside of combat, happily minimizing frustration. Despite not generally living up to the previous instalments the final portion maybe one of the most breathtakingly epic moments in the medium, combining God of War's signature scale, style and beautiful graphics to dazzling effect, it's a shame it takes so long to get there.

Combat remains relatively faithful to the series norm, Kratos wields his blades of chaos with deadly efficiency combing light and heavy attacks with ease opening up enemies and spilling many litres of blood. This time there's a few more distinct changes from the usual formula in magic, items and special abilities. Chief amongst them is that there is no longer a selection of primary weapons to be collected, instead Kratos only has access to his blades of chaos. The blades can however be imbued with one of four elemental powers at any given time. Each element belonging to a different god of Olympus, each brings it's own benefits to the table - for example fire causes additional damage along with adding damage over time effects. Using one main weapon results in combat that uses all the same basic combos making it easier to learn techniques but, also feels more repetitive than other instalments.

The use of only one main weapon is offset by the ability to pick up and wield human/ enemy weaponry that can be either found lying around or snatched from an adversary's hand using the new physical attack ability - that's other uses include punches and kicks. The collected weaponry are mapped to the physical attack button replacing it for the duration the weapon is held. There's a good array on offer too, ranging from heavy hitting hammers to long ranged throwing javelins. This additional secondary arsenal serves to supplement the blades of chaos and are not to be used in a primary capacity. Once your done with a weapon they can be discarded unleashing devastating effects, for example hammers can be hurled triggering explosions upon smashing into the floor. Grappling enemies is also possible now, Kratons can raise them above his head before flinging them into crowds to disperse them - something that becomes key as he's not as quick as he once was.

Kratos's suffers from a decrease in fluidness due to changes made to the old rage system that had you fill the bar before unleashing the temporary rage of the gods mode through pushing L3 and R3. This has been torn out completely and replaced with something completely new - a combo meter of shorts. Instead of having access to all of his abilities immediately Kratos must instead chain basic lighter moves together first. After the bar is filled he is able to let rip with all the skills at his disposal, however if the player is out of combat too long or struck the meter depletes. The implementation of this system has a monumental effect on the gameplay and, sadly it's not for the better. Grinding the bar until it's full limits the player to a small selection of basic attacks, then when the bar finally fills the battle is halfway done and being hit by an enemy only once serves to start the whole cycle off again. Its understandable narratively that the choice was made to reflect Kratos's mortality however the older system was part of the series identity and very entertaining, it's bold to remove a such a successful system from a recognisable franchise.

Staying faithful to tradition there is a multitude of chests hidden around the world that hide phoenix feathers and gorgon eyes, collecting these adds permanent health and magic upgrades to Kratos. In a friendly twist they're more chests hidden than required to max the stats out - if the player already has maxed out stats the chests award extra red orbs. Again red orbs stay true to previous incarnations, collecting the currency allows it to be spent on weapon upgrades for each individual item and elemental power in the arsenal. There's also a host of artefacts to be discovered that add useful bonuses when the game is replayed on new game +.

Some rudimentary puzzles are featured that are great changes of pace after so much combat. The complexity of the puzzles is well tuned serving to slow progress, not bring it to a grinding halt. Difficulty overall is tuned just about right - apart from a few incredibly steep spikes. Four difficulty modes are featured ranging from easy to titan, during my playthrough I played on hard - as I do on almost every game. During this playthrough I came up against two seriously difficult encounters, the boss fight against the Manticore and the already infamous Trials of Archimedes. Both are controller chucklingly hard, the spikes are absolutely massive, each caused me to become stuck for literally hours. The segments will no doubt be enough for some players to put down the controller and give in.

For the first time in a God of War game a full fledged multiplayer mode is featured, something Santa Monica and Playstation pushed quite hard in advertising. Surprisingly the mode is not terrible, in fact it stands up as a completely serviceable addition, although not one that feels totally necessary to the experience - I suspect the vast majority wouldn't miss it. Players create a hero, customise it to their liking and choose a god whose banner they wish to fight under granting them the powers of said god. Unsurprisingly the gods on offer are exactly the same as those whose powers feature in the main campaign. Online matches consist of brawls between players that control very similarly to the single player with a bit more nuance so there's room for counters and parries. Online games run very smoothly and during my time with it I experienced no lag.

All of the action stomps along to God of War's stand out, powerful soundtrack, perfectly accompanying the action taking place on screen, sound effects are suitably fantastical. The heavy thuds of massive foes, the clanging metal and crackling of conjured electricity all capture the atmosphere perfectly.

God of War: Ascension stays true to it's roots, it's a visceral romp through Greek myth with some unbelievable set pieces and more blood than you could paint a fully grown Greek warrior with. Those who loved the previous entries will enjoy their time here, and new comers will find the story easy to follow and action to their liking - even though it's not as fluid as others in the series. Sadly there's a colossus looming over, casting an all encompassing shadow that there isn't much left to do in this world that hasn't already been done - for all it's breathtaking moments and satisfying combat, it's been done before, sometimes better.